Anyone who has made it to the more difficult modes in both Rock Band and the post-Harmonix Guitar Hero games knows that there’s a key difference between the titles, and it’s not just the shape of the notes.
This Captain Obvious report comes to us by way of GameDaily’s interview with Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos regarding note patterns. He says:
“The guiding philosophy for us when authoring patterns is staying true to the music. What we found was if material in Rock Band was actually easier compared to Guitar Hero, it’s because the actual guitar parts are easier, whereas the design mandate for GH seems to be more focused on a gamer mentality in ratcheting up the difficulty.”
As someone who has damaged his plastic guitar as a result of Guitar Hero III‘s obscene difficulty (see: “Raining Blood” on Expert), it’s nice to hear that my excuse for losing (and breaking stuff) is actually well-founded.